Council seeks review of new indigent policy over fears of abuse

Four months after the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality introduced a new indigent policy, it believes the policy should be reviewed because it is open to abuse.

At a budget and treasury portfolio committee meeting on Friday, chairman Retief Odendaal said the criteria of the Attention to the Poor (ATTP) programme, approved by the council in June, was not helpful.

The metro scrapped its cumbersome process of asking residents to apply for free and discounted rates and service charges in June, and decided instead to use property values to determine the beneficiaries.

All residents whose homes were worth R100 000 or less automatically qualified for the discounts.

But on Friday, Odendaal said he was concerned.

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